What number is 15 less than 42?

When solving a question like "What number is 15 less than 42?", take a close look at what it is really asking.

You have the number 42 and you are looking for a number that is 15 less than 42. In other words, if you have 42 and take away 15, then how many do you have?

You guessed it! This is a subtraction problem. 42 is the minuend and 15 is subtrahend and the answer we are looking for is the difference.

Therefore, to solve "What number is 15 less than 42?", you subtract 15 from 42 like so:

42 - 15 = 27

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